Since the inception of games in which a ball is either caught or contacted by a hand, players of such games have used various innovative means to protect their hands from related pain, discomfort, and injury. For instance, baseball players have employed simple thin gloves (i.e., batting gloves) on the inside of baseball gloves to reduce the pain and discomfort often experienced when catching a ball. However, batting gloves possess minimal impact absorbing characteristics and, quite possibly, possess even less ability to distribute the forces generated at impact evenly over a larger area of the hand. Consequently, some players have placed foam pads inside the batting gloves to further enhance protection of the hand. However, these attempts have met with only limited success due to the deficiencies inherent with foam pads.
There are a wide variety of foams which possess different properties and characteristics which can be used as a hand padding device. However, a majority of foams have certain deficiencies which results in such foams not being an optimal material for such padding devices. For instance, "soft" foams offer little protection to the hand since they are easily compressed and tend to "bottom out" (fully compress), and thus they absorb little of the ball's impact force. "Harder" foams, on the other hand, may improve protection of the hand by providing a higher resistance to compression, but they also cause the user to lose a feel for the ball and such foams may cause the ball to simply pop out of the glove due to their rigidity. Regardless of the type of foam used, such pads may also affect the maneuverability of the baseball glove because of their added bulk. Moreover, such pads generally tend to become displaced inside the baseball glove and thus often do not adequately cover the sensitive areas of the hand to be protected. Because of these deficiencies, there have been attempts to produce a padding device which sufficiently protects the hand without affecting the control and maneuverability of the baseball glove.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,684 by Green, issued Oct. 21, 1986, discloses a substantially planar and flexible protective palm pad of multi-layer construction. The ability of the user to control the baseball glove is allegedly not affected by the palm pad which is secured to the user's hand by loops to prevent the palm pad from becoming displaced. The palm pad, which is used inside the baseball glove, has a flexible facing layer of leather and a backing layer of a "shock absorbent material" which allegedly does not cause or permit the ball to rebound from the glove, unlike a compressible foam or sponge. However, there is no disclosure regarding the types of materials which exhibit these specific shock absorbing characteristics. Moreover, there is no suggestion that the pad functions to evenly distribute impact forces throughout the pad.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,648 by Beal, issued Jun. 24, 1975, discloses a protective device of single layer construction for use by a player of a hardball game such as baseball, the single layer being a material which exhibits impact absorbing characteristics such as leather or plastic. The protective device consists of two portions, one portion which covers the palm area as well as the bones at the base of the fingers, and one portion which extends up the index finger. A mechanism is also included with the device for attachment to the hand, namely a loop on a portion of the pad which accommodates insertion of the index finger, to prevent the protective device from becoming displaced. However, there is no suggestion that the protective device functions to evenly distribute impact forces throughout the device, and in fact its impact absorbing abilities may be somewhat limited since leather or plastics are being used.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,690 by Webster, issued Jun. 7, 1988, discloses a protective glove having a plurality of non-springy, shock absorbing cushions positioned throughout, namely in the finger and base of the finger regions of the hand. The protective glove is worn on the inside of a baseball glove to protect these areas of the hand when catching a hard ball. However, there is no disclosure regarding the types of specific materials which provide the stated impact absorbing characteristics, nor is there any suggestion that the cushions function to evenly distribute the forces exerted on the hand.
Although devices such as those mentioned above may provide some degree of protection to the hand above and beyond batting gloves, such devices still suffer from a number of deficiencies. As a result, there is a need for a padding device which not only absorbs the forces of impact, but which also distributes such forces over a larger area. There is also a need for a padding device which does not become easily displaced when used and which does not adversely affect a user's control of a baseball glove.